The present disclosure broadly relates to the art of document reproduction and, more particularly, to a copying system capable of generating image data from an existing representation and communicating the image data to one or more associated marking systems for distributed output of sheet media bearing an image corresponding to the existing representation. The present disclosure also includes a method of generating such distributed output.
The terms “mark” and “marking,” as used herein, are to be broadly interpreted to encompass any action or process involving the production or output of sheet media having text, images, graphics and/or other indicia formed thereon by any process, such as inkjet or electrophotographic processes, for example. Additionally, the term “marking system,” as used herein, is to be broadly interpreted to encompass any device, apparatus or system that is capable of performing a “marking” action. Examples of such equipment and/or systems include, without limitation, desktop printers, network printers, stand-alone copiers, multi-function printer/copier/facsimile devices, high-speed printing/publishing systems and digital printing presses.
The terms “print” and “printing,” as used herein, are to be interpreted as referring to any action or process involving the production or output of sheet media based upon data communicated from a device or system other than a marking system or component or sub-system thereof. Examples of such other devices or systems capable of communicating such data can include personal computers, workstations, network terminals, network servers and/or print servers, for example. The terms “printer” and “printing system,” as used herein, are to be interpreted to encompass any device, system or apparatus that primarily performs “printing” actions. For the purposes of the subject application, “printers” and “printing systems,” as used herein, represent a subset of “marking systems.”
The terms “copy” and “copying,” as used herein, are to be interpreted as referring to any action or process involving the production or output of sheet media based on image data that has been generated from and, thus, corresponds to an existing representation, such as an indicia on an existing document, for example. Additionally, the terms “copier” and “copying system,” as used herein, are to be interpreted to encompass any device, apparatus or system that is capable of performing a “copying” action (i.e., generating image data from an existing representation and producing one or more sheets of media bearing an indicia corresponding to the existing representation using the image data). “Copiers” and “copying systems” represent another subset of “marking systems.” It will be appreciated that, to some degree, the “printing system” and “copying system” subsets overlap, particularly in the area of multi-function printer/copier/facsimile devices. For purposes of the subject application, any device capable of scanning or otherwise acquiring image data based on an existing representation and generating sheet media output therefrom is considered a “copier” or “copying system,” including, without limitation, such multi-function devices.
Additionally, such exemplary embodiments of equipment, systems and/or processes can utilize sheet media of any suitable type, kind, material, quality and/or thickness (e.g., recycled paper, plain paper, bond paper, coated paper, card stock, transparencies and/or other media). Furthermore, such exemplary embodiments of equipment, systems and/or processes can output indicia on such sheet media using any printing or marking substance, such as liquid ink, solid ink, toner and/or colorant, for example, in monochrome (e.g., black) or one or more colors, or any combination thereof.
Furthermore, the subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly well suited for use on and in association with systems capable of generating (e.g., scanning) image data corresponding to an existing representation (e.g., an indicia on an existing document) and outputting a reproduction thereof on sheet media, such as networked digital copiers and multi-function printer/copier/facsimile devices, for example, and will be discussed herein with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the subject matter of the present disclosure is capable of broad use in a wide variety of applications and environments. As such, it is to be distinctly understood that the showings and discussion herein are merely exemplary and are not intended to be limiting.
It is a well known and common arrangement for computer networks to be connected to or otherwise in communication with one or more marking systems (e.g., printing systems and multi-function devices) that are capable of generating printed output on sheet media. Such computer networks will normally include a plurality of computing devices (e.g., personal computers, workstations, network terminals) that are in communication with the one or more marking systems in a suitable manner, such as through one or more network servers, for example. Thus, the computing devices on such computer networks are capable of sending data corresponding to desired printed output (i.e., a print job) to the one or more marking systems for generation of the desired printed output.
One beneficial aspect of using networked marking systems is that the user can be provided with the capability of distributing any such printed output among two or more marking systems. One way that such distributed printing can be accomplished by simply having the user manually distribute the print job from a networked computing device to two or more of the marking systems that are available over the network. In this manner, the user can simply assign each of the two or more marking systems a predetermined number of printed documents to be output such that the required total number of printed documents are generated. The printed documents can then be collected from the two or more marking systems for later distribution and/or usage.
As an alternative, separate hardware and/or software solutions can be employed to more automatically distribute a print job to a group of two or more marking systems. For example, the computer network can include a print server in communication with the networked marking systems. Typically, a user submits the desired print job to the print server and the print server automatically attends to the generation or output of the printed documents by distributing the printing task among one or more of the networked marking systems. A print server can normally be configured to determine distribution based upon one or more factors, such as machine capability (e.g., color printing capability and finishing capabilities), machine capacity (e.g., pages per minute in simplex, pages per minute in duplex), and machine availability (e.g., current print job load), for example.
Additionally, or in the alternative, output management or other software can be used to control and optimize or otherwise balance marking system output. Such software solutions can be used in association with a print server of a computer network or can be used independently on the computer network to act as a virtual print server. In either case, such software is normally operative to distribute print jobs received from networked computing devices based on similar output optimization, load balancing and other such considerations.
In addition to the time and effort involved, one difficulty with employing the manual approach is that the user has to calculate the number of printed documents to be assigned to each marking system. Thus, errors can inadvertently occur in these calculations, which can undesirably result in too few or, alternately, too many printed documents being generated. What's more, a user is likely to be unable to take into account the various aspects of the network other marking systems to achieve an optimized or balanced distribution which would result in increased output rates and other productivity-related benefits. The alternative of utilizing print server and/or output management software solutions undesirably add additional cost and complexity to the network.
Furthermore, such solutions are typically only useful for distributing printjobs generated by computing devices connected through the computer network. That is, known distributed printing solutions do not operate to distribute copy jobs in the same manner. Rather, to achieve distributed copying, a user is left to make multiple trips to each copying system (i.e., to scan and then later retrieve). However, this approach can require considerable time and effort on the part of the user, and is still unlikely to result in an optimized or otherwise balanced utilization of resources.
As another alternative, a user could scan the existing representation, save the image data as an electronic file, access the electronic file using a suitably networked computing device, and send the copy job instead as a distributed print job. Thus, this approach, too, undesirably requires additional time and effort on the part of the user.
For at least the foregoing as well as for other reasons, it is desirable to develop a copying system capable of distributing output to other marking systems as well as a method of operating the same.